Another delay in case against ex-Watervliet cop

Troy officer accused of buying cocaine in marked car to appear next month

A photo of Nicholas Pontore is displayed during a press conference on Tuesday, August 4, 2015, at The New York State Police Academy in Albany, N.Y. (Phoebe Sheehan/Special to The Times Union) ORG XMIT: MER2015101908265701PS

Troy

A court appearance for the former Watervliet cop accused of participating in a gang-related drug ring and buying cocaine while on the job was postponed until next month.

Nicholas Pontore, 29, was scheduled to be in court Monday morning, but the case was postponed without an explanation after Pontore's lawyer, Arthur Frost, met behind closed doors with Assistant Attorney General Michael Sharpe and Rensselaer County Judge Debra Young.

Pontore is accused of buying cocaine in a marked police car and providing protection for the Troy drug gang Young Gunnerz.

A yearlong undercover investigation using wiretaps and police surveillance dubbed Operation Trojan Horse targeted 21 individuals including Pontore, according to indictments handed up by a grand jury earlier this year.

The 39-count indictment accused Pontore of multiple counts of drug possession, conspiracy and official misconduct for providing protection to the drug network. He resigned last June and is free on $100,000 bail.

More than half those arrested in the August sting have pleaded guilty. The plea deals have resulted in sentences that range from probation to years in prison.

According to the criminal indictments unsealed in August, the narcotics distribution ring was operated out of Troy by the Young Gunnerz, the largest provider of cocaine, heroin and illegal prescription drugs in the city.

Gang members and their associates allegedly purchased large quantities of drugs from an unknown supplier in the Bronx, then brought the narcotics to Troy for distribution throughout Albany, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties and elsewhere in and outside the state.